Releasable fasteners or couplers are used in a wide variety of fields today. Basically, they act as an interconnector between two points and when subjected to a predetermined load these releasable fasteners effectively open, thereby dissipating the load on the fastener and freeing any object or thing that is connected thereto.
These types of break-away fasteners have long been used in the equestrian field. See for example, the disclosures found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,430,914 and 5,606,782, the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. Typically, such fasteners form a part of a tether that connects a horse to a post, trailer or fixed structure. Horses when tied to a fixed post or structure, can become agitated or frightened and will attempt to break away from the post or other fixed post or structure. Unless the tether holding the horse has some break-away feature, the horse could very well injure itself or a bystander or in some cases, actually damage adjacent property. Thus, it has been common to place a releasable snap or fastener in the tethered line. Such releasable snaps are designed such that once the horse exerts a predetermined load on the fastener, the fastener will release and the horse is able to break away without injuring itself.
However, releasable snaps or fasteners have in the past tended to be overly complicated and as such have been expensive to manufacture. Thus, in the end, the cost to consumers has been relatively high. Therefore, there is and continues to be a need for a practical, reliable and economical break-away fastener that can be used in a variety of fields, especially in the equestrian field, to tie or couple a horse to a post or other type of fixed structure.